P3 Impact Award Finalist: Wireless Access Health Initiative

In the Philippines, delivering quality health care to remote areas remains an obstacle, especially with such a large population. The Wireless Access for Health Initiative (WAH) provides a solution to this challenge. By leveraging mobile broadband technology, WAH improves improve health care by reducing the time required for reporting and improving access to accurate patient records.

Health centers managed by local government units provide basic health care services to families and communities throughout the Philippines. Effective delivery of patient care requires good information at all levels of the health care system. A cumbersome manual system results in lost records, delays in provision of needed medical attention, and compounds the already poor health-seeking behavior of patients. WAH is a customizable, open-source electronic health record system born out of a partnership between the Provincial Government of Tarlac and various other stakeholders, including Qualcomm, Inc., USAID, RTI International, and Smart Communications, Inc. The system enables easy health data validation, patient SMS alerts, a statistics aggregator, and an electronic reporting mechanism. WAH has improved various aspects of the health system in Tarlac, including increased accuracy of health records, 60 percent reduction in wait times, and increased number of preventative visits. WAH has expanded outside Tarlac. It is now functioning in 87 clinics in 59 cities and municipalities located in 24 provinces and serves more than 3,500 patients per day.